Love and the Private Eye

Love and the Private Eye
Network	ABC
Premiere date	January 28, 1972
Run time	22:16
Starring	Richard Dawson Leonard Weinrib Mitzi McCall Cynthia Adler Robert Holt John Stephenson
Music composed by	Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s)	Ray Allen Harvey Bullock
Director(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Title card

"Love and the Private Eye" is a segment in an episode of Love, American Style season three, with the intention of being a back-door pilot to the unrealized spy comedy series Melvin Danger. It aired on January 28, 1972 on ABC. It was written by Ray Allen and Harvey Bullock, produced Alan Rafkin, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and directed by Hanna and Barbera, the founders of Hanna-Barbera Productions. Hanna-Barbera didn't forget the idea of a private investigator, which may have morphed into the tamer Inch High, Private Eye, which began a year later.

Private investigator and master of disguise Melvin Danger looks into the murder of his recent client.

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Melvin Danger	Richard Dawson
Williams	Leonard Weinrib
Peggy Mason	Cynthia Adler
George Hammond	Robert Holt
Garbage man #1	Unavailable
Garbage man #2	John Stephenson
Tangerine Glick	Mitzi McCall
Police captain	Unavailable
Mrs. Hammond	Unavailable
Mike Riker	John Stephenson
Carl Best	Unavailable
Frank	John Stephenson

Organizations

• Hammond Industries
• Danger Incorporated
• Tri-Cities Insurance (mentioned)

Locations

• Earth
  • United States
    • Hammond Industries HQ
    • Melvin Danger's offices
    • Mrs. Hammond's residence
    • Riverside Avenue
      • Peggy Mason's residence

Objects

• Nothing of importance

Vehicles

• Melvin's car

Production

Filming

It was copyrighted in 1971.

Music

The score was composed by Hoyt Curtin. It was edited by Pat Foley.

Release

Dates are in order of release:

• United States: January 28, 1972 on ABC

Behind the scenes

• Melvin and Williams's voices are styled after actors, Humphrey Bogart and Terry Thomas, respectively.
  • The names outside of the hotel Melvin rents an office are called Casablanca Street and Sierra named after the films Casablanca and either The Treasure of the Sierra or High Sierra, films that Bogart starred in.
• Like other Hanna-Barbera series at the time, it also had its own laugh track.
• This was the first of two pilots Hanna-Barbera tested through Love, American Style, but whereas this failed, the second one entitled "Love and the Old-Fashioned Father", led to the fully realized series Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, which lasted three seasons.

Errors

• The captain calls Frank an officer, when he looks more like a detective.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning

Home availability

• Not available. 😢